Driving in Costa Rica
Costa Rica was the first country on our trip to challenge our comfort zone especially when it came to driving. We started our family Costa Rican trip with 5 days in La Fortuna (near the Arenal Volcano), 5 days in Tortuguero, then a month in the mountains of Pursical. We arrived very tired our first day so we hired a driver to La Fortuna (great decision). In La Fortuna we walked and rented Taxi’s. Tortuguero is an island and getting there was an adventure on its own (3-4 hour Taxi ride in to the middle of the jungle followed by a 45 minute boat ride even deeper in to the middle of the jungle).
Getting to Pursical
For the rest of our stay in Costa Rica we chose a house rental in the Pursical Area. To get there from Tortuguero it was a 1 hour boat ride, 4 hour taxi ride and then 2 hour ride after getting the rental car (not including the side trip in San Jose to x-ray M’s wrist … verdict … not broken). R and I are rarely on time for anything. I’ve learned to budget a few extra hours as a buffer but this trip seemed to take way longer than I thought. The boat ride was great, the taxi ride was beautiful but long, the car rental pick up involved shuttles, lots or luggage being crammed into a small car and getting lost – but we managed. We were hoping to get to our new house before the groundskeeper left and during daylight – didn’t happen.
Some interesting things about driving in Costa Rica:
1) There are no addresses in many of the areas. Our house was “the one with the big gate on the right 1 km down from Bar Linda.” At least that’s probably better than 3rd house down from the palm tree.
2) The roads are narrow and on mountains. It’s beautiful and thankfully we’ve driven enough roads in Colorado to know not to hyperventilate but driving off the mountain and landing on someone’s roof is a legitimate concern.
3) There are no side walks. You will dodge people, toddlers, dogs, and occasional cows casually walking down the road.
4) As you dodge the above people, toddlers, dogs and cows (usually they are on the right) you will be passed by motorcycles on the left. There are a lot of them and they fully believe in sharing the lane. So many times you end up with cliff, pedestrian, car and bike all crammed in to a very small lane with oncoming traffic.
5) The busses are big, there are many of them, and they stop a lot. The lanes are small and curvy – big bus, small road, lots of curves, people walking, dogs and mountains … having fun yet.
6) The center lane is just a suggestion. Especially a solid center lane. I did a few time see an occasional dotted center lane but really I think the solid lane just means make a prayer and pass anyway.
7) Sometimes the road washes out – yep, no road – big ditch, got to love landslides
Our Late Night Drive in the Costa Rican Mountains
The day we were driving to our AirBnB rental it was getting dark way fast and getting foggy. We were not used to driving in the area yet. The gentleman that was supposed to let us in the house was waiting on us to leave. His English was not great our Spanish is worse so I was starting to get a little stressed about the entire thing. We made our way through a few towns and on to the road that the house was on.
Cows, Road Blocks, and Caution Tape
I was not able to get the house to load on to our map app on our phone. I could tell the general area by counting the curves on the map but in the dark and fog I was not confident. After the last town we were supposed to turn left to stay on the road and … road block. There seemed to be a detour on google but it was another road block. We tried to drive a little further down the first one since that’s what the map said to do and almost ran in to a cow with very big horns and then we saw caution tape – hum … already stressed, now getting really stressed. We luckily turned around (turns out the road was washed out and turned into a very large whole in the ground – like 15-20 foot hole in the ground). We could not see the washed out road at all. All we saw was a big cow and flimsy caution tape. After the cow and almost driving down a ditch incident we decided to just randomly follow some other cars (at least is was a plan) After several turns down a very hilly road that barely fit 2 cars we climbed up a hill and popped out on the road we wanted.
A Dark Road, Random Bar and we Finally Find a Gate
After the detour, we followed the road for about 5 miles. There were no marking and visibility was very poor. It’s foggy in the Costa Rica mountains – and it rains, a lot. We thought we saw a bar to the left that was a couple of miles from the house then I started counting curves on the map. Our directions were basically – look for the gate on the right (and we did at least have a picture). I was getting pretty stressed – it was late , we had been traveling all day with 3 young kids and we felt very lost and out of our element. However, once we saw the gate everything was OK. It was actually pretty simple minus the detour but I was really glad to be out of the car.
All that being said – after a few days we really started to enjoy the drive. It’s more of a challenge and a totally different mindset then the states but I learned to love it (except for some car sickness – sometimes the constant winding roads wears me down). The views are also really amazing.
More Tips for Costa Rica Driving
Driving in the big cities and towns is not that much different. You will see more people near the roads and sometimes will pass people selling things on the side of the roads or at toll plaza’s (our favorite where the locals holding up fresh caught fish near the beaches). I found the larger cities pretty easy to navigate although we typically ended up making a lot of u-turns.
Have patience. Driving in a foreign country can be a really daunting process. Just take a deep breath and take your time. If you rush or get too stressed you’re more likely to make a mistake. If your stress level gets to high then find a place to pull over, take some deep breaths and reset.
Pay attention to the weather. We arrived shortly after a lot of rain. There were many areas that had damage and were washed out.
If you’re anxious about the drive or will be arriving at night, consider hiring a driver. Our flight from Canada landed at 7am and we were all very tired. We hired a driver to take us to La Fortuna and it was a really good experience. Many of the drivers will act as tour guides as well.
Taxis don’t always have functioning seat belts. The one we took from Arenal to Tortuguero was short belts. My husband did without and just had lapbelts for the boosters and car seats. I am a huge seat belt and car seat fanatic in the states. We try our best when traveling but the situation is not always ideal. I just have to learn to breath and hope for the best. For this leg of the trip we brought a full car seat for my 3 year old and a small booster (just the bottom) for my 6 year old. For most of the rest of our trip we carried a bubblebum for the 6 year old and a high back booster for my 3/4 year old. Car seats and international travel can be really tricky.
Costa Rica does seem to have a really decent bus system. If you’re adventurous and your Spanish is better than ours you may have some really good success with the buses.
Car Rentals in Costa Rica
We generally book our car rentals through SkyScanner. They just seem to have the best rates and we’ve had really good experiences through them. I will look at the recommendations then do additional research on the companies that are selected.
How to get the Best Price
At first glance Costa Rica car rental prices look A-M-A-Z-I-N-G … like under $100 for the month. Well, unfortunately that’s not the case. The basis car rental prices are nothing, it’s the insurance that’s a problem. Insurance costs can be up to $30 per day. You may be able to get partial insurance coverage with your credit cards. I highly recommend looking up what you have available to you with coverage then calling the rental company. By using a combination of coverage on our credit cards and negotiating prior to our arrival we were able to get our monthly rental to around the $600 mark for the month.
Watch out for the Flat Tire Scam
As always be aware of your surroundings. When we were doing research, I had read a few articles about people in rental cars getting flat tires and when locals came to help change the tires, they also “helped” themselves to all of the electronics in the car. It seemed like a fairly common scam. Just be aware of your surroundings and use an appropriate amount of caution if you find yourself in an unusual situation. Nothing like this happened to us.
I also recommend trying to do your driving during the day. Getting lost at night is unnerving. If your plane lands at night then consider getting a hotel room and starting your day in the morning. We had to get hotels rooms near the airport several times and it was much less stressful then very early drives and late night trips.
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Would you like more information on Cost Rica? Here’s the guide book that we used and Recommend (these are affiliate links – see below for more information).
and don’t forget the bug spray …
For more information on our Costa Rica Trip Click Here
We’re a family of 5 taking a gap year from normal life to travel. For blog posts, locations, and more information on how we did it and how you can to click here.
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